first player

Chapter 1699 Final Chapter: The Shore Crossing [43]: [This is your first regret, the game you never got to play]

Please select the game you wish to participate in from the three screens.

……

The fruit machine is adorned with colorful lights, and the screen rapidly switches between images before finally freezing, displaying three scenes: the first is a woman sitting in a box, reaching out a bright red hand towards the view; the second is a row of oddly shaped cars, with strange props such as speed bumps, bananas, and inflatable backpacks scattered along the road; the third is a group of stick figures passing a bright red apple.

The red lever next to it can change the position of the light, and below it is a green button that says "Confirm".

Before each round of the game begins, participants are given three games to choose from. All the games are constructed based on the participants' common sense, which led Su Ming'an to conclude that the civilization of the other group of participants should be similar to that of Zhai Xing.

After a moment's consideration, Su Ming'an chose the third game. The first one seemed similar to the mystery game "Box Girl," which involved a significant element of luck. The second one resembled QQ Speed, a game he had never played before and knew nothing about racing games.

……

[Selection complete, your first round of the game begins.]

……

"Shh!"

Su Ming'an opened his eyes and was startled by the scene before him.

Before my eyes was a massive book, as tall as a building, thick and heavy, open to the air, exuding the scent of ink. Its off-white pages faced a row of twenty chairs. I sat in the chair on the far right; the other nineteen chairs were occupied by nineteen other people.

A girl in a long red and blue dress sat on the spine of a huge book, her legs crossed beneath the heavy fabric, revealing a pair of thick-soled platform shoes. Noticing people approaching, the girl pouted.

"Let me see... Contestant group number 283192, welcome to level 037, Story Relay." The girl smiled. "I am the host of this level, number three."

"You said we're contestant group 283192?" a white-collar woman asked, puzzled. "Isn't this the first round? We should be group 1."

"This is your first time here, but it's not my first time hosting!" The girl slammed the tea lid shut and gave a light snort. "Alright, everyone be quiet. I'll start announcing the game rules."

The girl pulled down the lever next to her, and in an instant, fireworks burst everywhere.

……

[Participant (Su Ming'an), your first game is: Story Relay No. 037.]

[Game Type: Cooperative Game]

[Number of players: 20]

[Game Introduction: Participants must collaborate to create a logically sound story. Each person has 30 to 60 seconds to speak, maintaining a normal speaking pace throughout, without noticeable pauses or deletions. Each person has three rounds of speaking.]

[Winning Rules: After three rounds, if the story structure is complete and the logic is sound, all players pass.]

……

After hearing the rules, people breathed a sigh of relief. It was a cooperative game, and it didn't sound difficult—at least it wasn't a bloody game like gunfights or knife fights, nor was it a high-stakes mystery game. Everyone could make up a story.

"You have... ten minutes to discuss. The game will begin immediately after the discussion. Note that if you are judged to have failed in the final round, none of you will pass." Number Three crossed his legs.

"What will happen if I don't pass?" a boy asked curiously.

The girl gave a wicked smile:
"You'll die!"

Leaving behind a terrifying message, the girl opened an umbrella, lay down, and quickly fell asleep.

A dark-skinned South Asian boy spoke up: "It's a bit difficult for twenty people to create a complete and logically sound story. It's easy with three or four people, but it becomes very difficult with more people. The later people don't know the intentions of the earlier people, and with many rounds, it's easy to forget the earlier stories. Once a logical conflict arises, it's very difficult to fix."

A Chinese man who looked like a programmer suggested, "I have a solution. The rules don't say we can't use existing stories! We can just use existing stories, and each person can add a line! Anything from Kuafu chasing the sun, Little Red Riding Hood, or the crow drinking water... anything will do!"

They glanced at Number Three, who lay there like a dead fish, saying nothing.

As people began discussing which story to choose, players from different countries enthusiastically promoted stories based on their own cultures, eager to showcase their heritage to the world. Suddenly, Su Ming'an spoke up:
"No, it's a trap."

Everyone immediately stopped discussing and looked at him.

Only then did they realize what kind of face the person sitting in the corner had.

"—I'm super! Lights!"

Familiar gasps rose and fell, several people roaring and screaming, their voices almost shattering the sky. Among them, a Chinese man with dark circles under his eyes, looking like he'd been working overtime for ages, wearing a plaid shirt, saw Su Ming'an as if he'd seen his own father, jumping up and down: "Mom! Dad! Did you see that? I'm on TV! I'm on TV!!!"

Su Ming'an ignored him and continued, "The rules do not say that existing stories cannot be used, but there is a word in the rules—'creation'. Any situation that might be considered nitpicking must be avoided."

His words were like a bucket of cold water poured on them, making those who thought they had found a loophole calm down.

“That’s right. The number one player is in this round, so we must be careful, or we’ll become sinners for all time,” said a European man with a high nose and thin lips.

"Then he can just start over himself. He's not afraid of failure anyway. He's just an ordinary person now, with no difference in strength from us." A harsh voice rang out. It belonged to an elderly man with a hunched back, his face dark and his expression filled with undisguised jealousy. There are always many people in this world who think they are the protagonists of the world, and Su Ming'an's appearance makes them feel incomparably jealous.

"What nonsense are you spouting! Stop your sour grapes!" The programmer slammed his hand on the chair.

"If the rules don't say it's not allowed, then it's allowed," the hunchbacked man sneered.

After he finished speaking, his cheeks flushed, and he became smug, thinking that he had refuted Su Ming'an in front of the whole world.

Su Ming'an replied calmly, "Is that so?"

His fingers tapped on the table:

"Each person has 30 seconds to speak. At the average normal speaking speed, how many words can they say?"

People looked at each other, not quite understanding why Su Ming'an suddenly changed the subject. What did the story type have to do with the speaking speed?
“Around 68 characters,” Su Ming’an said. “We can be more flexible depending on the individual, so it can be between 60 and 80 characters.”

He looked at the bewildered nineteen people and said calmly, "At 70 words per round, twenty people would have to say 1400 words in one round and 4200 words in three rounds. That's the length of four exam essays. What would happen if we used a ready-made framework to piece together a story of twenty people, each speaking three times, for a total of sixty paragraphs?"

"What's going on?" the man said. "We're not deaf, we heard the beginning of the story, it's easy for us to continue..."

Suddenly, he covered his mouth, his face flushed, as if he had suddenly realized something.

Some people hadn't reacted yet, staring blankly at Su Ming'an.

The air fell silent for a moment, and Su Ming'an stopped tapping his knuckles. He clasped his hands together, leaned back slightly, and rested against the back of his chair.

“Anything mentioned in the rules must be considered certain to happen. Anything not prohibited by the rules must be considered possible,” Su Ming’an said. “There is not a single word in the rules that states: ‘The next person can clearly hear all the previous story content.’”

People realized what was happening and turned pale.

They made the mistake of habitual thinking, subconsciously setting preconditions and assuming that a story relay should involve everyone gathering together, the first person telling a story, then the second person, and so on, continuing the relay. During this time, everyone could hear what the others were saying.

However, the rules did not say that they would sit together!
The dark-skinned South Asian boy reacted quickly, his expression changing: "What if everyone only knows their own small part? For example, if the first person says 'Once upon a time, there was a mountain,' the twentieth person might not know the whole story at all. When he speaks, he might not be able to connect the complex plot unfolded by the eighteen people in the middle! Especially when the story doesn't develop linearly, but has foreshadowing and twists..."

That's right.

The plot of Hamlet is very coherent, but if each person is only responsible for saying three lines, with long intervals between them, can they ensure that the line they say perfectly matches the revenge progress, character mentality, and conspiracy details built up by the previous dozen or so people? As long as there is a clear logical break or contradiction, the requirement of "logical rigor" is broken, and this alone can cause everyone to fail.

A hush fell over the room as a chill ran down everyone's spine. The trap was indeed insidious—first using the "cooperation" tactic to lower their guard, then leveraging habitual thinking to further de-escalate their tension. It seemed to offer an easy escape, but in reality, it concealed deadly intent.

Some people couldn't help but look at Su Ming'an with awe. They hadn't realized it while watching from behind a screen, but now that they had met him in person, they discovered that the title of number one player was indeed well-deserved. If Su Ming'an hadn't mentioned this, they probably would have been completely wiped out.

In fact, this was a lesson Su Ming'an learned from being tricked too many times—never ignore a single word in the system rules. Who would have thought that the absence of the phrase "exactly the same" in the Old World could lead to such an incredible feat as "ten thousand world lines, each with only one true player"? Who would have thought that the vague term "Ruins World," without a clear civilization name, would actually hint at the word "Zhai Xing"?

"Then... what should we do?" The European man looked at Su Ming'an, his tone unconsciously carrying a sense of seeking advice. "It's too difficult to come up with a story on the spot that can involve twenty people without making any mistakes. Time is limited, and we don't even have time to discuss it."

“We need a simple yet highly scalable setup,” Su Ming’an said.

"For example?" A blonde, blue-eyed white woman sweated anxiously.

What kind of story background allows everyone to maintain their logical rigor even when they can't hear others' stories? What kind of story allows for independent narrative segments, yet ultimately connects to form a complete narrative?

People looked at Su Ming'an with confusion.

Su Ming'an clasped his hands together and gave the answer:

"—Endless Challenges"

People opened their eyes wide.

"That's right! That's correct!" The programmer understood, slapped his thigh, and cheered repeatedly.

If it's an endless series of levels, the first few people only need to explain the background, and then the subsequent people can each narrate the plot of a level in a completely independent manner, each in an extremely concise tone! Finally, the last person can wrap up the story! The fifty-odd levels in between can be considered as fifty-odd levels, and can be completely independent of each other!

Furthermore, even if some of these twenty people have lower levels of education and cannot tell a logically coherent story, it doesn't matter, because each person's paragraph is independent. Even if some paragraphs are chaotic, the later paragraphs will not be affected. Even if you only tell a simple story about "the protagonist defeating the evil dragon and becoming a hero," it will not go wrong at all!

If the beginning and the ending are done well, this can be a completely complete story.

Su Ming'an explained, "Traditional adventure stories need to take into account the protagonist's growth, but we can make some changes. For example, we can create a 'golden forest' setting. The golden forest contains pages from all the worlds, and our protagonist is a librarian who enters this forest with a lamp. He walks along the countless forking paths, collecting pages from each path, and finally piecing all the pages together to form a complete storybook."

"The tone was set as 'the protagonist searches for the one truth among countless branches.' The first three people were only responsible for telling this premise. Starting with the fourth person, each subsequent person did not have to continue writing from the previous person, but instead told stories of the protagonist in any scene of any parallel world, which were diverse, logically consistent, and did not conflict with each other."

Everyone's eyes lit up. This method cleverly avoided the weaknesses of linear narrative, greatly reducing the difficulty.

Their gazes towards Su Ming'an were complex, a mixture of admiration,感慨, and lingering fear. If he hadn't exposed the trap, they might have already happily jumped into it.

A little girl couldn't help but think, "No wonder Mom said that everything is easy when you're following Su Ming'an..."

"Ring ring—"

The bell rang, and the host yawned, signaling the start of the first round of speeches.

Su Ming'an has already set the tone: this is the story of a lantern bearer searching for a way through a golden forest where countless paths branch off.

Because it's a garden with forking paths, different possibilities coexist. Each step returns you to the beginning; every path the lantern bearer takes is real, so even if each player's logic conflicts, it's still reasonable. Because each of them is simply recounting the lantern bearer's experience each time.

The first participant was a programmer. He took a deep breath and began his thirty-second segment: "In a certain airspace, there lies a golden forest with forking paths. I am a librarian, and today, I enter the forest carrying a lamp. This is a story about choice and pursuit..."

Sure enough, when he spoke, apart from the second person, the other eighteen people couldn't hear what he was saying at all. Su Ming'an's guess was correct; it was a trap. Fortunately, they avoided it.

The second participant was a serious, middle-aged woman, intellectual and mature. Her narration was swift and fluent: "I entered the forest, where countless paths branched out like blood vessels. Each time, I could only choose one path to follow. When I reached the end or got lost, I would return to the first fork in the road, carrying the memory of that journey, and begin the next cycle..."

The third person was a blonde, blue-eyed white woman. Her expression was somewhat blank, and she stammered as she spoke. Fortunately, she only needed to repeat the premise that Su Ming'an had set: "Every step I take is real. What I am looking for is a path that can allow me to escape the cycle of reincarnation and integrate all my experiences... the only 'golden path'..."

The fourth person was a little girl. The most difficult part, "setting the tone," was over; she only needed to let her imagination run wild: "I just took a random path. I saw a roaring bear; it was so fierce. I defeated it with a stick, and many small animals thanked me. I led them to a sheltered cave, and then we lived together."

From her onward, all narrators must remember only one thing: no matter how absurd their story may be, they must provide a complete ending. Only then will the "lamplighter" begin again in the next narrator's story, choosing a new path through the forest.

The fifth person was a dark-skinned South Asian boy. He said casually, "I chose a bumpy road with a fierce tiger crouching inside. It called itself the guardian. I put down my lantern and fought fiercely with it. In the end, I won and finished the road."

The sixth person was a middle-aged man with a weathered expression: "I chose a warm path and walked into a sea of ​​flowers, where the sun was warm and the breeze was sweet. I saw them—all the faces I had lost. My parents were picnicking, my friends were playing, there was no disaster, no sorrow, and everyone smiled warmly at me. But I knew I had to leave. I said goodbye to them and continued on my way."

People shared their imaginations in turn, and the "lamp bearer," through their words, embarked on different paths and ushered in different futures.

"I chose a wild, overgrown path and entered a castle, where the people were like exquisite dolls. I accepted the crown and became a giant dragon that coiled around the castle. I could sense the thoughts of each doll and freely modify their memories and emotions. Finally, my crown shattered, and I died."

“I chose a wide road and came across a giant silver tree that could grant my wish. I said, ‘I beg that all the creatures in this forest be spared from being devoured, manipulated, and killed.’ In the end, I became that tree.”

“I chose a narrow path and came to a village shrouded in black fog. The villagers said I was the first person to enter from the outside since ancient times. I used my light to dispel the fog and protect them. They were grateful to me and worshipped me as a god.”

"I chose a path with a cold wind, and I encountered an enemy, a very powerful one. I fought with all my might, and in the end, I burned to ashes with him. People sing my name and shed tears for me, and my footsteps will be reborn in the golden forest."

People told the story in turn, continuing the narrative of the "Lamplighter's" life after life. He stepped, walked, fought, and died. Each of his life's journeys was extraordinary.

The Lamplighter's happy life came to an end; the Lamplighter perished alongside his enemy; the Lamplighter became a lonely exile; the Lamplighter led the world into a beautiful dream; the Lamplighter became a dragon and devoured everyone; the Lamplighter was betrayed and killed by his companions; the Lamplighter became a god who manipulated everyone; the Lamplighter became part of the dragon...

The legend of this protagonist is told in different voices—hoarse, innocent, aged, youthful… old, middle-aged, young, and children. Players from different countries, genders, and ages imagine his journey, his story, his future, and his long and wandering path.

After three rounds, Su Ming'an was the last person.

He stood still for a moment, as if he heard the echoes of the "Lamp Bearer" through countless reincarnations—resolutely burning himself out, resolutely setting sail alone, becoming the master in solitude, bravely piercing through illusion, and peacefully returning to his homeland...

He could almost hear the scratching sound of the pen falling onto the paper.

As the final summarizer, he has three minutes to speak, and he needs to cover all the logic and give a concise and effective conclusion.

At this moment, everyone no longer needed to continue the relay; their hearing had returned, and they all looked at Su Ming'an. Their gazes held trust, admiration, fervor, and awe… They believed he could give the "Lamp Bearer" a beautiful ending to his tumultuous journey.

After finishing his thoughts, Su Ming'an slowly spoke.

His voice was clear and gentle, as if the "Lamp Bearer" himself had come to life, speaking softly to everyone:

"The lantern bearer stands before the beginning of all the paths, and all the pages flutter and dance, forming a complete book. All the forests, flowers, cycles, pages, and even the lantern bearer merge into the book..."

"At this moment, the lantern bearer finally understood that the golden road was never a ready-made path waiting to be discovered."

In that instant, it was as if he had become the "lamp bearer" in the story.

Raise the lantern and point it towards your feet.

Light flowed from beneath his feet—originating from the resonance of all the cycles of the "Lamp Bearer," spreading in all directions like molten gold… coating all the existing paths with a warm golden edge.

“Every path, whether it led to happiness, destruction, loneliness, dreams, domination, sacrifice, betrayal, nothingness, godhood, or death—it was all part of the golden road, it was all real.”

"It turns out, he wasn't trying to choose the only correct path, but rather to reconcile all the paths he had taken before..."

"—Become 'real'."

As soon as he finished speaking, sixty pages flew out of the bodies of the twenty participants and flew towards the huge blank book in front of them, like swallows returning to their nests.

As the pages were added, a gigantic book, as tall as a building, gradually emerged with ink-written characters. This was the story they had written in relay among twenty people. From the very first paragraph of their relay, the ink-written characters appeared rapidly until the very last paragraph. The entire book was filled with their dictated experiences as "lamp bearers." The characters were densely packed and neatly written.

When all the characters were written in ink, with a "bang," the huge book slowly closed, revealing a blank cover.

On the cover of the classic book, light condensed into words, and golden light converged to form the title:
……

——"The Journey of the Lamp Bearer"

……

The book is finished.

The topic is set.

The forest has not disappeared, and the paths still fork.

The figure of the lantern bearer gradually faded away, blending into the light and shadow on the book's title page.

……

[The novel "The Lamplighter's Journey" has been detected as having a complete structure, sound logic, and a coherent beginning and end.]

Congratulations! The collaboration of all twenty participants has been approved!

[First round of the game is over.]

[A return teleportation will be initiated for you in two minutes.]

……

Upon seeing the word "passed," everyone breathed a sigh of relief, many with beads of sweat on their foreheads. They all looked at Su Ming'an as if they had seen a giant panda:

"Too good!"

"Thanks to the number one player!"

"Wow, that's amazing, I beat the game just like that."

"I've never thought the game was this easy... Is this what it feels like to be carried by a pro?! I don't have to do anything, I just follow their commands and win!"

A round of applause broke out, with the little girl leading the applause. The others paused for a moment, then immediately joined in.

"Clap clap clap clap clap—" The applause was thunderous and rain-like, and people looked at him with fervor and gratitude.

What was originally a story relay that required all-out effort at every step became incredibly easy for everyone except Su Ming'an, who was responsible for wrapping things up at the end. They could even talk nonsense without any problem because the story's framework was so solid that even a story where the protagonist "laid off and gave up" was considered reasonable.

A dozen people surrounded Su Ming'an and applauded. Even Su Ming'an was a little overwhelmed by the crowd. He looked up and looked at the girl with pigtails.

“Number Three,” Su Ming’an said.

The girl lazily lowered her gaze.

Number Three lowered his legs, his platform shoes swaying back and forth: "My boss is waiting for you in the final 'Demon King's Castle'—win, number one 'player'."

“Your boss is the master of ‘games’.” Su Ming’an noticed the emphasis in Number Three’s words and responded with the same emphasis.

The first player, and the master of the game. It seems that the former is subordinate to the latter, after all, the "player" is determined by the "game". However, when the former is strong enough, goes deep enough, and even surpasses the latter... the "player" can control the "game".

"It's really hard to see your boss," Su Ming'an said.

“You insist on choosing the most difficult path, so you don’t have to face the Radiant Mother Goddess head-on,” Number Three said. “Join us, the Awakened Ones, and I guarantee you will become the first successor. Lu Shen and Pudding are far inferior to you. You will become the person my boss favors the most.”

“…Then forget it, I don’t like that wording.” Su Ming’an immediately waved his hand.

The fact that he is still not a conscious being means that in all these reincarnations, he has never become a conscious being even once. This is a realm he absolutely cannot enter.

Seeing Su Ming'an and Number Three engaging in this "divine dialogue," the other participants were completely bewildered. They felt as if they had stumbled into a scene of heroes exchanging barbs before a final battle. After all, superheroes in movies always say a few tough words before fighting.

This "Game Master" sounds pretty awesome. Is this the enemy Su Ming'an is going to face?

“My God… I feel like I’m witnessing history!” the white man exclaimed, his heart pounding.

"My buddy, you're witnessing history every single second!" the programmer man laughed.

"That's right! Su Ming'an himself is a walking history!"

"Shh!"

The next moment, when the time was up, everyone was teleported back.

The second round of the game began in front of the fruit machine.

Su Ming'an gazed at the flickering lights.

“White Wolf, Si Que… Rovasa is like a sandbox. Now that I’ve stepped out and am looking back from above, I find that many colors are not quite real, like a colorful oil painting. Did the Lord of Dreams choose Rovasa as the final battlefield because it’s the most familiar one…” Su Ming’an pondered.

"Ring ring ring~" The lights on the fruit machine gradually came to a standstill.